Rogues Gallery: TMNT Next Mutation

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Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation lasted only one season, likely because very few people were watching it. I saw a handful of episodes when it aired, and all I could remember about them was it had a 5th turtle who was a girl. Now it is on NetFlix streaming, so I got a 2nd chance to see what it's about! I find the turtle characters great and the new 5th turtle (Venus de Milo/Mei Pieh Chi) interesting enough, but where a hero's saga ultimately is judged is in the foes they face and defeat.

ShredderThe quintessential Ninja Turtles villain appears in the introduction story arch, but Venus de Milo uses shinobi magic to change his personality back to Oroku Saki, who apparently has no motivation to run the Foot Clan and allows them to disband while he takes to living on the streets. He later appears in an episode where his necklace is found out to be a mystical object known as the Golden Shuriken, which is sought after by Dragon Lord and the Turtles find themselves protecting Shredder. The amulet activates at the end of the episode and appears to bring the evil back out of Old Shred Head, but he is not seen for the rest of the season.Threat Level: 4 /10 shells

Dragon LordThis is the main villain in this series. The Dragon Lord comes from the dragon species, which had lived in peace with people until he corrupted many dragons and sought the end of humanity, but was stopped by shinobi masters and all dragons were locked in a magic mirror (much like Superman II). They stay there for many centuries until present day, when he escapes into the dream realm and then into Earth. He plans to get powerful enough to destroy the human race by eating the mutated turtles and mutating himself into an unstoppable force. We never see him fight during the run of the show, making it hard to judge how dangerous he is. He has an army of dragons (much like the Foot Clan) called The Rank and two notable henchmen:

Wick is a tiny dragon who mostly makes potions and talks about eating people or animals. During one episode, his potion gives him the power to shoot energy from his eyes and he takes leadership of The Rank, but it is undone by the end of the episode.

Dr. Quease is a scientist specializing in mutations, but is not accepted by the scientific community. Dragon Lord steals laboratory equipment and lets the professor to use the lab in exchange for the secret to mutating himself, which needs to be discovered by examining/dissecting the Ninja Turtles.

Combined Threat Level: 8/10 shells

Bonesteel"Bonehead" is a hunter of very rare animals - mostly endangered species. He considers the Ninja Turtles to be the most rare of species and obsesses over capturing them so he can make trophies out of them or to sell them off. He is the only villain in the series to go against the Turtles without any support/henchmen. He has some sort of mental imbalance where he talks with some ticks and converses with himself and the taxidermied animals at his hideout. He uses stealth to sneak up on his prey or to hide from his enemies - sometimes disguising himself within a couch or reclining chair and he has a large array of weapons that work to varying degrees against the Turtles (the more likely it would be to kill something, the less likely it is to work - but weapons that capture things seem to work very well).Threat Level: 2/10 shells

SilverSilver is a reference to silverback, as he is an intelligent gorilla - the last of his specific species, the Himalayan Yeti. With no means to further his species, he decided to enjoy life as much as he can by running an Al Capone-like gang. The Turtles first run into him because he often uses the sewers to get away from the police after his crimes. In one episode, he tries to steal a winning lottery ticket from an old man and it falls into the sewers where Michelangelo finds it. Another scheme involved hypnotizing Donatello via email. He has henchmen, who are very stupid, but around 10 of them are able to beat up the 5 Turtles.Threat Level: 4 /10 shells

VamMiVamMi is a vampire, who was defeated by Chung I - the shinobi master who trains Venus until he dies trying to stop Dragon Lord from escaping the dream realm. Chung I took her heart and locked her in a coffin about 90 years ago. She is awakened by her two pupils during the season finale 4-part story arch. Vampires need their heart within 4 days of reanimating or they will perish forever. She learns that Venus is in possession of the heart, so she travels to New York City to reclaim it and punish the shinobi. She has some mystic powers, like the ability to transform into a bat and fly around and the ability to summon the elder vampires, who have their own powers. Bonestorm also appears in this story arch and is both a foe and an ally to VamMi. She is destroyed at the end of the story arch, so she is a one-time villain. Her two pupils are:

Bing and Chi Chu appear to be children (probably between ages 8-12), but they are vampires and are hundreds of years old. Their voices are done by adults and they are adept fighters. They can also transform into bats and fly like VamMi can. They serve VamMi, but were dumb enough to resurrect her without her heart. After VamMi is turned to dust, they decide to stay in New York rather than return to China.

Combined Threat Level: 7 /10 shells

AstronemaThe Turtles appeared in an episode of Power Rangers in Space that ran the same morning as one of the episodes of the season finale arch with VamMi. In the episode, they are brought across dimensions by Astronema and she uses mind control on them in a plan to defeat the Power Rangers by stealing the Astro Megaship. In this dimension, the Turtles are cartoon and comic book heroes, as are the Power Rangers in the Turtles' dimension - and as famous heroes, the Rangers trust the Turtles and give them all the access they need to carry out Astonema's plan. She has a great deal of power - being able to teleport the Turtles out of the sewers, then put them under mind control. She also has a large contingent of henchmen and loyal followers.Threat Level: 9 /10 shells

Overall, I was underwhelmed by the villians of this show and, based on these characters, it does not surprise me that the show was cancelled. The main power used by Shredder, Dragon Lord, Silver, and VamMi was throwing a bunch of henchmen at the Turtles. Dr. Quease and Bonesteel were the only ones who actually had viable plans to destroy or capture the Turtles.

This article has been certified turtlefied.

If you enjoy articles about villains, check out my first articleWho Hates James Bond?

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I only caught the Power Rangers crossover episode when these originally aired by chance one afternoon. I didn't even know this show existed up 'til then. I had grown out of Power Rangers and TMNT by then, but I'm excited to check them out on Netflix.

And I'm pretty sure Dragon Lord did fight once or twice, like in the pilot-- I seem to remember him being too much for any of the Turtles, save for when they did that shell-crunch from the movies this followed.

Also, I don't remember the show stating that the Rangers were from a separate dimension, though I suppose that would make more sense...

oh, and the power rangers crossover was shit. it would've been slightly better if not for that stupid mind control, because i was expecting to actually see the two groups fighting together, rather than becoming enemies. ah well